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Flexible dieting, or counting your Macros, is one of the most popular diets right now. I personally don’t even think it should be considered a diet. While following flexible dieting, you can essentially eat what you want and still lose weight. Yes, you read that right. Curious, I thought so..read on!
What’s a Macro?
A Macro, or macronutrient, is more commonly referred to as Proteins, Fats, and Carbohydrates. All of the foods we eat during the day contain different amounts of each macronutrient. For example, an egg would contain proteins and fats while a slice of bread would contain mostly carbohydrates with a very small amount of fat and protein. Your goals, current weight, and activity level will determine what macronutrient distribution is appropriate for you.
How do I track my macros?
In order to successfully track your macros you will need a food scale and an app either My Fitness Pal or Fat Secret. My Fitness Pal seems to be one of the most popular macro tracking apps but I prefer Fat Secret because I think it is easier to use. There are several other free downloadable apps available for you to use if you do not like any of these.
With your app and food scale you will begin to track everything you eat. This sounds extremely tedious at first but it will eventually become a habit. You should be weighing and measuring everything you eat.
How’s this different than calorie counting?
When you count your daily calories, all your concerned with is how many calories a day you’re eating. When you count your macros, you’re not concerned with daily total calories but more focused on eating the appropriate amount of each macro. Keeping within a certain calorie range is important, but not the main focus.
Can I really eat what I want?
Yes, when you count your macros there are no dietary restrictions. If you want to eat pancakes for breakfast have at it, just make sure you track it. When you follow flexible dieting, you have the freedom to eat a variety of different foods. There are many diets out there that are extremely restrictive in terms of foods that are not allowed which is what makes this diet so appealing.
Do I need to hit my numbers spot on everyday?
In a perfect world, yes you would hit your numbers everyday. As long as you are within 1-5g of your target numbers everyday you will see results. To clarify, you want to hit each number within 1-5g not eat 5g over your numbers everyday. Eating 5g over your numbers everyday will hinder your results – especially if you are on a deficit to lose weight.
Is flexible dieting able to be done long term?
Yes, the more you follow flexible dieting the less you will think of it as a diet. You will begin to see it as a lifestyle. It will become second nature to weigh and track everything. Depending on your specific goals your numbers can be adjusted accordingly whether you want to lose, maintain, or gain.
Do you follow flexible dieting?
Yes, I’ve been religiously following flexible dieting since January of 2018. I wouldn’t even consider it a diet, most days I can make just about anything I want work into my numbers. With the use of kernel seasons (see link below) I can season and flavor all of my food without having to worry about cooking with extra fat for flavor. If you’ve never tried flexible dieting and want some more information about how to make it adapt to your lifestyle you can clink this link and select “online training/coaching” and we’d be more than happy to provide you with some specific information: https://patienceconsistency.com/contact/
What do you think? Could you live the flexible dieting lifestyle? Comment below or contact us 🙂
I did not know I was doing flexible dieting except no counting😊 nice post how wonderful is it to learn a new thing
Thanks for your feed back 🙂 we love Flexible Dieting!
I really love this flexible dieting
More post about it
We’ll be posting more about it soon, our next post will feature all the meals I eat in a day!
I didn’t know about this, it really is ver interesting.
Thank you! I really love flexible dieting because you never feel restricted with your food choices and it’s so sustainable longterm!
This is awesome, I’ve never heard of flexible diet! Great info and I love it how you are not restricted from eating certain foods – that alone throws me off and I cannot do diets! Thanks for sharing:)
Having no restrictions really helps you stick to it long term! Thank you for the feed back 🙂
Oooooooh. I like that I can eat what I want! HEYYYYY
If you have any questions about the specifics of how this works, please let us know 🙂
I don’t know much about this, but it sounds easier than the other diets. I personally don’t diet at all–I just jog daily and hope for the best!
Flexible dieting, isn’t necessarily a diet but more like a lifestyle choice 🙂
I have to admit I’ve never heard of flexible dieting before but it sounds like an interesting way to go about a diet. Definitely something I now want to look into more.
If you have any questions, please let us know 🙂
This is the first time I heard of this plan. It sounds like a good plan to get healthy food on the plate.
We love flexible dieting, its the perfect way to live a balanced lifestyle.
I have never heard about this before. Sounds like an interesting way to balance out a diet.
It definitely is, please let us know if you have any further questions!
this is very interesting, i haven’t heard about this type of dieting before. i dont really like following dietings since i do struggle with disordered eating. i could see how this would work for a lot of people.
This diet doesn’t even feel like a diet, its all about switching your lifestyle
Wow what a great plan! I’m loving this flexible dieting idea.
Xo, Sondra
Cuisineandtravel.com
Thanks!
Oh very interesting. I’m always intrigued by new diets. I’ll have to look into this.
Please let us know if you have any further questions 🙂
I’m not too concerned about counting calories although I do have an awareness what I eat. I think it’s really great that there’s an app for virtually every diet that is out there and I love that the macro diet allows you to live a lifestyle, as this allows you to sustain your diet long-term.
While counting calories is definitely important, it is also equally as important to eat the appropriate amount of carbs, fat, and protein for your body type and goal 🙂
Flexible dieting is something I can get into as I don’t like giving up much of my food but try to make healthier choices
Flexible dieting is the best sustainable long-term diet choice, please let us know if you have any further questions 🙂
Honestly i did pretty well when I was tracking everything on My fitness pal. But I was still a regular person when it came to working out.
Tracking everything is key!
I have had great success with macro counting in the past, but then became burnt out with tracking everything. I do think it can be a great plan to get great results.
It does get hard to consistency track everything! I really like that it doesn’t put on a restriction on what foods your allowed to eat.
I really like this idea of flexible dieting. I like the idea that you can balance everything out.
Flexible dieting really is the best lifestyle choice!
This is some great info! We are currently working with our gym on a 6 week exercise and nutrition program.
Awesome, I hope you see great results from it!
Thanks for mentioning how it’s okay not to hit your numbers daily. Sometimes it can be stressful thinking about them.
You’re welcome! It can definitely be stressful sometimes but its all about consistency.